Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Malawi and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Yazoo to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by The Smiths. All the underground hits.
All The Vogues tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Spoonie Gee record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Quando Quango record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dead C,
Mr. Review,
Anthony Braxton,
Khruangbin,
E-Dancer,
The Toasters,
the Swans,
Nation of Ulysses,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Skriet,
Isaac Hayes,
Theoretical Girls,
The Slackers,
Piero Umiliani,
Japan,
Jeff Lynne,
Crispian St. Peters,
David Axelrod,
Surgeon,
Accadde A,
Mandrill,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Bobby Womack,
Amon Düül II,
Robert Hood,
The Misunderstood,
Camberwell Now,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Donny Hathaway,
Rapeman,
48th St. Collective,
Joensuu 1685,
Rotary Connection,
Essential Logic,
Section 25,
MC5,
Marine Girls,
Public Enemy,
Glenn Branca,
Rakim,
Electric Prunes,
Man Parrish,
Henry Cow,
Lalann,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Au Pairs,
China Crisis,
Grauzone,
Frankie Knuckles,
the Germs,
Hashim,
Liliput,
Das Ding,
New York Dolls,
Scion,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Marc Almond,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Dorothy Ashby,
Sun City Girls,
Harmonia,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Eve St. Jones,
DJ Sneak, DJ Sneak, DJ Sneak, DJ Sneak.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.